Pininfarina and Bollorre to unveil concept plug-in electric vehicle

Pininfarina and French battery company Bollorre will unveil a concept plug-in electric car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. Hopefully it will look much better than the Bollore BlueCar Concept (shown left) that was displayed back in 2005 at the Geneva Motor Show.

The car will be a four-seater and will be sold under the Pininfarina brand beginning late 2010. The 50:50 joint venture plans to sell 15,000 electric cars a year by 2014. It plans to build 2,000 in 2010, 8,000 the year after and 11,000 cars in 2012.

Unlike other electric or hybrid petrol-electric vehicles that are just about to get a hang of lithium ion batteries, the Pininfarina and Bollorre electric vehicle will use Lithium Metal Polymer batteries. A LMP cell is a laminate of four materials – a metallic lithium foil, a solid polymetric electrolyte, a vanadium oxide cathode and an aluminium foil current collector. These materials prevent any self-ignition above 200°C and precludes the risk of explosion.

Each LMP cell is electronically protected by passive and active systems which permanently monitor the state of the battery as well as the efficiency, voltage and temperature of each element and are encased in a steel container.

The concept plug-in EV will have a 200km range on a full charge of 8 hours from a standard electrical outlet. A 5-minute emergency charge can get you 25km.

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.

Wow, to own your very own Pininfarina. Other than designing for Ferrari and Lambo and Hyundai and other brands, have they ever produced cars under their own name before? If not, this would be a first for the design house.

Wow, to own your very own Pininfarina. Other than designing for Ferrari and Lambo and Hyundai and other brands, have they ever produced cars under their own name before? If not, this would be a first for the design house.

A collectible no doubt. Who cares its an EV.. it’s a Pininfarina!
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Well, I care… If it will look like that… haha… funny… looks like it came out of a well wrapped toy from toys’r’us… hopefully the production version will have a better look… then and only then I will refuse to care if it’s an EV… haha…

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